Over the past couple years, she and her husband Brian have made some very noticeable changes in their lifestyle. They now love to run & particiape in races. This past weekend, they were in the Race For The Cure in their area- where the weather has been close to or over 100 degrees.
I have a wonderful support team with my friends in California. THANK YOU!! I can not begin to say how much you all mean to me! I wish I could have seen both the run and the great posters in person. I know a lot of work went in to the posters, the outfits, the pink nail polish that makes the girls run faster.
And next year, I plan to be feeling much better and be able to attend the Komen activities for myself.
The following is what she posted on her blog, here are some of the signs they made:
.
I spent some time on Saturday talking with the girls about cancer.
As far as knowing how many women's lives will be touched by breast cancer (and men's for that matter), what the treatments are like, why they would be seeing some ladies without hair, what the signs on peoples backs were all about, that breast cancer has a 98% survival rate....those sorts of things we hadn't talked about before. They had a lot of questions about my friend Nancy while making signs for her. How did I know her, where does she live, why is her hair different in every picture, how does she decide which wig to wear everyday.....typical 8 and 6 year old questions.
We talked about these things so that they would understand more about what the event was about, and so that they wouldn't be shocked to see all different types of women, all at different stages in their journey's with cancer. I wanted them to know that every name on someones back was a person, a person who has dealt with cancer, and that all the people running and walking had been touched by those peoples journeys, strength and courage.
One of the moment of the morning that I think effected me the most was the parade of survivors. They started with bringing on stage the women who had been diagnosed under the age of 40, then those who had been in remission for under 1 year, then 5 years, 10, 20, and 30 years. Some had survived breast cancer more than once. Some were much younger then me. Then they played Melissa Ethridge's I Run For Life. This song and I have a history as I had heard it for the first time the day after Komen For the Cure last year. I cannot hear this song without crying, so you can imagine what happened in this setting, looking up at all these amazing women, who were also crying.
Then there was a speaker on stage who was speaking about how it could be any of us, at any point in our life, when we least expect it. This again, got the water works going. While the kids knew we were there as a way of showing support for my friend, they did not know that earlier this month I had my own scare. It was a normal day, we had done our long run, came home, I was about to get in the shower and that is when I found it.Not that it was hiding, it is actually quite large and visi
ble from the outside. Brian came in the room to tell me about something on TV and although I was looking at him, I didn't respond to what he had said, and he knew something was wrong. We have wonderful Dr's here, and I was in the office by 2 the next day, and having a mammogram and ultrasound w/in 5 days of finding it. In what may have been the longest 5 days in history, you have a lot of time to think about things, what could possibly be lying ahead of you, how you will chose to handle it. I have the utmost respect for anyone who has heard anything other than "your scans are clear, I see nothing that looks cancerous or suspicious" after finding a lump and having it looked at.This run will always have a special place in my heart. As I said, there were many moments that stand out. Beth and the kids with their signs of support on their backs:
How do I begin to say thank you? You all mean so much to me!
Much love!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful!
ReplyDelete